


Truth or Dare

by naaptime



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Crossdressing, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-20
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-24 01:50:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18159896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naaptime/pseuds/naaptime
Summary: Taking place recently after his accident with Rize, Kaneki invites Hide over to have a sleepover with him where they end up playing a little game of Truth or Dare, luckily for them not everything goes quite as planned.(Bonus Vampire!Kaneki oneshot next chapter)





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki is a vampire, the only problem with that is he hasn't told his boyfriend.

As the hunting of vampires went on, more and more innocents died at the hands of frightened humans who didn’t know any better. While the rate increased Kaneki found himself to grow more and more intimidated and worried. He just needed someone to trust, he wasn’t used to being a vampire and relying on blood to survive, then again maybe that somebody he needed to trust was someone who had been by his side for the longest time. Perhaps now it was time Kaneki told his boyfriend Hide who he really was now, it would definitely clear the air. 

Ever since he began to distance himself, Kaneki and Hide’s relationship began to get rocky, of course Hide didn’t usually argue but nearly twice a week they would find themselves in the midst of a petty argument over nothing. Other times the pettiness faded away and drew away the curtains to something more deep and upsetting, something that neither of them were really ready to talk about. 

Kaneki felt like his stomach was twisting up in knots, he was rather hungry, of course now he would be hungry of all times. For vampires hunger was crippling, it didn’t matter if they were just starting to feel the sensation, recent or not the hunger felt like a punch to the stomach and was an urgent warning to Kaneki that he would have to return to his home quickly if he didn’t want to experience any pain. He shouldn’t have gone for so long without a stable blood supply, feeding off of strangers who happened to walk into alleyways and not drinking the amount of blood recommended meant inevitable exhaustion and pain. Kaneki didn’t want to harm anyone, he was passive, what was the point of feeding when it only wound up with someone else getting critically injured?

His stomach emitted an embarrassingly loud growl, Kaneki firmly wrapped his arms around his abdomen as if he were silencing it. Still, he needed to see Hide, this discussion was long overdue, he should have just told him in the first place. As he approached Hide’s home a cold wind blew through the already crisp air, it was dark with only nearby street lamps lighting the way. Kaneki walked up the steps of Hide’s home raising a hand to knock on the door before hesitating, the hand that rested on his side beginning to clench and shake. He couldn’t help but sigh, now was not the best time for him to be nervous. He made the decision to talk to Hide about this and he would be damned if he didn’t stay committed to the promise he had made to himself. 

He needed to be honest, their relationship needed honesty, it needed trust and Kaneki wanted to repay Hide for every little thing he had done just to help him. After a few more minutes of thinking to himself, Kaneki firmly knocked on the door, there was no response so Kaneki waited before trying again, this time his knocking was successful in getting Hide’s attention. With a flourish his boyfriend flung open the door to reveal a tired mess, his bed head was extraordinary and it seemed that Hide had fallen asleep in his clothes, Kaneki could only assume he was up late studying again.

“Wha- Kaneki? It’s like midnight right now, what are you doing here?” He asked, his voice was soft, his amber eyes squinted before blinking and going wide open.

“Hide, I-”

“Wait, wait, come inside first, it’s cold as hell out there,” Hide took Kaneki’s hand and practically dragged him inside before shutting the front door, turning on the living room lights. 

Warm hands met and caressed Kaneki’s flushed face, Kaneki himself hadn’t realized how cold it was outside, Hide could only shake his head and sigh softly, “Jeez, you’re so cold, why didn’t you wear a jacket? Is something wrong? You hardly ever forget your jacket.”

Kaneki shifted awkwardly, placing his hand on one of Hide’s, “Well, I was kind of in a rush… I wanted to see you and, well, I want to tell you something.” 

“Uh, sure, you can tell me anything, seriously though, don’t run out in the middle of the night without your jacket, it just snowed yesterday y’know!” Hide reassured before scolding Kaneki his thumb slowly drifting over soft skin of Kaneki’s cheek, despite Kaneki being indoors for a little over a minute, he was already warming up and he was certain that his skin was a little less cold, less cold than it naturally was anyways. 

Wordlessly, Kaneki was motioned over to a nearby sofa and was encouraged to sit down, which Kaneki did gratefully, his feet were a bit sore from walking so fast. Hide was quiet to sit down next to him, despite looking so tired he was very alert and attentive, ready to hear whatever his boyfriend had to tell him. It was just a tad bit nerve wracking, Hide wondered if Kaneki was going to break up with him or tell him that he was moving away, the thought of either actually happening made his heart beat out of his ribcage. Despite all of their fights Hide still loved Kaneki and although Kaneki seemed to be distancing himself more and more every day Hide was still willing the bear with it all if he had to, even if it did hurt. 

“I- Uh… I-I’m a vampire, I mean- I got turned into one, I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner… but I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me,” Kaneki confessed and it felt like a huge weight was lifted off his chest. There he said it and he felt significantly less stressed out than he was a year ago. Hide blank faced and Kaneki felt his stress begin to resurface, firmly he placed his hands on his lap and messed around with the fabric of his pants. 

“And….?”

“What?”

“That’s it? Kaneki, you know I love you, if you think that I would leave you just because you’re a vampire now, then you’re totally wrong!” Hide declared while putting his hand on Kaneki’s shoulder firmly before loosening his grip so that it was more of an affectionate touch. 

“Yeah, but I hurt people… That doesn’t affect you in the slightest?!” Kaneki questioned, becoming a bit aggravated, while he loved Hide and didn’t want them to break up, he also thought that it was too convenient for him to just be… Forgiven.

“You need to do it to survive right? And… Well… I kind of figured that something happened when you started pulling away from me and all.. And that one time my head got hit really bad and you thought I was asleep? I heard everything-” Hide admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with a small sympathetic smile, feeling Kaneki’s shoulders tense underneath his other hand. 

“And I know you didn’t want me involved and all that, of course I was shocked when I found out, but I realized something, and that something is I’m still going to love you even if you do have to drink blood to survive,” He finished, his smile growing wider. 

Kaneki sniffled and for a split second Hide thought he said the wrong thing, before he was swept up in a tight hug. Hide grunted softly while hurriedly hugging back, he didn’t realize Kaneki’s hugs could become so strong and tight, it was cute in a way, even though he felt like his body was being squeezed a bit too much for his liking, Kaneki bawled and he didn’t care if he looked like a complete and total baby. He didn’t deserve Hide at all, through all of this Hide knew and he stuck by his side, he needed to do something in return, he just had to, Hide already hurt himself enough, if he could think up of something to make up for all the shit he put his boyfriend through then he would go through with it no problem. 

Just then another surging wave of painful hunger wracked his body and Kaneki crumbled, he had nearly forgotten he needed to quench his thirst. Hide kept his arms wrapped around his boyfriend protectively, he knew that something was wrong, like all the other times he had managed to maneuver and work his way through Kaneki’s mindset. 

Much to Hide’s dismay, Kaneki moved away from the hug and stood up, wiping his tears with a grateful smile, ignoring the pain that was like a knife stab to his stomach and organs, “I-I should leave now, let you get some sleep and all that.. Thank you for understanding, I appreciate it so much you have no idea…”

While Kaneki made his way over to the door, ready to make his exit and walk back to his apartment, Hide stood up and abruptly stood in between his boyfriend and the exit, “Nuh-uh, you don’t have a jacket, besides you don’t have to leave just because you’re hungry, I’ll let you drink some of my blood if it’ll get you through the night.”

“H-Hide-!”

“I’m being serious Kaneki, I won’t mind, here, I’ll even turn around if that makes you feel better!” Hide turn around and exposed his neck and right then Kaneki took notice to the soft flesh, his mind being overcome with thoughts he would never have about Hide. His blood would taste delectable and Kaneki couldn’t resist, he gently wrapped one of his arms around the other man affectionately while gently caressing his hair with the other. 

He leaned forwards and then paused, “Um… you sure I can-“

“Do it, I won’t budge, until you do. Plus, this is just to get you through a few days so you don’t have to drink a lot if you don’t want to,” Hide reassured with his classic go lucky grin. Kaneki still hesitates before pressing his sharp fangs against Hide’s neck, acknowledging what Hide wanted him to do wordlessly before digging his fangs into his neck, the sharpness of his teeth piercing the skin.

Hide grunted but didn’t move, as promised, or perhaps it was Kaneki’s arm that was keeping him from squirming. 

_ Don’t drink too much. _

_ Don’t drink too much. _

_ Don’t drink too much. _

_ Don’t drink too much. _

Kaneki repeated this in his mind over and over and over again, determined to not let his primal instincts get the best of him. As soon as the feeling of hunger was mostly alleviated, he was quick to pull his fangs away carefully and gently. Hide let out a small sigh and chuckled softly, even though Kaneki couldn’t see his face he did notice that Hide’s cheeks were dusted with a light red. 

“I-I didn’t drink too much right?”

“No, no, you’re fine, I don’t feel faint or anything so that’s a good sign.”

“That’s good…” Kaneki mumbled and loosened his grip around Hide’s body.

Hide chuckled quietly and stepped away, the marks on his neck were nearly unnoticeable apart from the small yet bright red blotches of blood that stood out against Hide’s skin, “Hey, y’know as long as you don’t drink too much, you can have my blood whenever you end up in a tight spot.”

His offer left Kaneki silent and he fiddled with his shirt sleeves, “Are you… Are you sure-?”

“Yep.”

“R-Really sure?”

“Absolutely,” Hide replied unfazed before smiling shyly and rubbing the area where he was bitten, not at all affected when some of his own blood ended up on the tips of his fingers. At the very least he wasn’t bleeding out a lot or anything like that, then he would be concerned about his health more, however, he doubted Kaneki would be that harsh drinking his blood, even so Hide wasn’t afraid of getting hurt for him so in the end he concluded that his health didn’t matter. Well there was that and one other thing he was too embarrassed to admit. 

“Are you sure you’re okay with this???” Kaneki pressed, as appreciative as he was about Hide offering his own blood, that just meant more pain for Hide and Kaneki definitely owed him big time. 

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Hide held up his hands and chuckled, his cheeks still a light red. 

“Ah.. Alright.”

“Now c’mon you big dummy, let’s watch a movie or something!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was posted late by accident, I'm sorry smh


	2. Chapter 2

Had Kaneki not missed so many days of school, there was a pretty good chance that Hide wouldn’t be at his house right now. His best friend was out of commission for almost over a week and despite Hide sending him notes, Kaneki felt like it was best if he came over to his apartment and taught him some of the material he didn’t understand completely. Which was odd, because Kaneki was really smart, even smarter than him when it came to these kinds of things. Hide didn’t dwell on it though, maybe he was just zoned out, he was pretty sure anyone would be if they had a ton of steel suddenly dropped on their head.

Hide was observant. He noticed a lot of changes with Kaneki after the incident, mainly his loss in weight and appetite and yet he was treating his partial disappearance and injuries as if it never happened in the first place. When he arrived at Kaneki’s home he was greeted with the usual hug and they entertained each other with friendly banter that was mostly about how much they missed each other. Then, after Hide had set up his sleeping bag on the floor of Kaneki’s bedroom, they got straight to work. In the end it really did seem like Kaneki didn’t understand some of the material. He looked rather tired too. Luckily, the content Hide was teaching wasn’t too hard to pick up and the study session finished after only two hours, a new record for the both of them.

Sighing softly and slouching against the side of Kaneki’s bed, Hide stared up at the ceiling. Now that they had finished studying, there wasn’t really anything to do. They could just watch a movie, but there wasn’t much fun in that. Did Kaneki even own movies? Nah, Hide didn’t think so, he was too much of a bookworm to have more than a couple. He was fairly certain that at one point he saw Fifty Shades of Gray on one of his bookshelves. Either he was hallucinating or Kaneki was genuine about the random and off putting sexual content on his shelf that was filled to the brim with books of what was mostly the opposite genre. Hide wasn’t all that interested in finding out, it was a raunchy book, even he couldn’t force himself to pick up and read something so smutty. Plus, he thought Kaneki was more into psychological horror, not sex and weird BDSM things.

“Hey, dude,” Hide’s naturally boisterous voice caught the attention of his quiet friend, who seemed somewhat content with highlighting and organizing the notes he had written down neatly.

“Um.. Yeah?” Kaneki questioned, his timbre being much softer and gentler than Hide’s. He was in a state of concentration, organization was his forte, and already he had placed half of his notes in a color coded binder.

“Do you want to play a game? Like, Truth or Dare?”

“Truth or dare, huh? We haven’t played that since secondary school, Hide. Don’t you think we’re too old for playing something like that?” Kaneki adjusted his medical eyepatch, promptly rejecting the idea of playing a seemingly childish game. Even so, he didn’t think it would be very enjoyable. He figured they both lacked the brutality to embarrass one another, and admittedly that was really the only time the game got interesting. But he and Hide were both simple men, they mostly did truths and had wordlessly sworn off doing the whole ‘dare’ part of the game.

“Pfft, come on man, if we don’t pussy out of dares then we could actually have a good time!” The slightly taller adult retorted with a grin, sitting up and criss crossing his legs. He wasn’t one to purposefully make games and entertainment unenjoyable for other people, so surely Truth or Dare wasn’t that bad of an idea.

There was the slight huff that escaped Kaneki’s lips, he couldn’t blame Hide for wanting to try it out, Kaneki didn’t even deny the fact that he was boring, he literally told his best friend that his options for a date would be to go to a bookstore or go to Big Girl for hamburgers, something that had caused Hide to laugh at him profusely and also left him blackmailed, technically it was double blackmail since he had also witnessed him lovestruck that day. In a lot of ways Hide was like an excited puppy, he was clearly excited at the prospect of this game and he would occasionally make some childish jokes despite being an adult. Kaneki appreciated that, his friend would always find a way to brighten up his day, even with the smallest of things. Still, Kaneki was a bit reluctant, there wasn’t really anything to spice up the game except their own imaginations, and sometimes Kaneki thought that his own imagination was a bit limited, he didn’t want Hide to get bored or tired of him so of course he already felt himself growing just a tad bit embarrassed.

“I guess we could give it a shot?” Kaneki gave in and Hide’s grin somehow grew infinitely wider. _Cute_ , He thought. Hide’s smile was always really cute and Kaneki took a moment to appreciate that he had seen so many versions of it. Happy, sad, excited; each one of Hide’s smiles were in some way emotional and always genuine, even if he was lying.

“That’s the spirit! I feel like we should lay down some ground rules! Rule number one: we can chicken out of a dare or truth three times only. Rule number two: we’re responsible, I think we can handle making each other do crazy stuff. Rule number three: if a dare requires us to, we can go outside of your boring old house and do dares in public, in front of people.”

That was fairly reasonable, but Kaneki was unsure about the third rule, public dares? He wasn’t so sure he would be able to go through with that, but if it made the game interesting, he couldn’t really protest, “Um, Hide, should we really do some dares in public? I mean, it’s Friday, a lot of people could see us and record us and post us on the internet…”

Hide never thought about that, sometimes Kaneki was so outspoken that he forgot that he wasn’t too interested in going out and doing that much, he didn’t mind altering the rules just a bit, “How ‘bout this then, we have to go out in public for a dare if we need to, but the public area can be empty if the person who does the dare wants it to be.”

Kaneki thought that sounded better, if he was dared to do something stupid, he’d do it in a park, a much more comfortable alternative than in a busy area like a mall or downtown in the center of Tokyo, he nodded and smiled meekly, showing Hide that he was content enough with the slight alteration of the rules. Hide already thought he was just a bit boring, he was the one who carried most conversation and made them both laugh, perhaps it was Kaneki’s chance to be the one who did all of that, his own wordless apology for ditching university and making his best friend worry so much because he was compensating with being a ghoul. Well, that and Kaneki was genuinely sick at the time, physically and possibly mentally, he didn’t want to saddle Hide with the truth about him being a half ghoul, he could tell Hide was probably worrying even now and he wanted his friend to have a good time.

“Alright, soo… should I go first then?” Kaneki suggested, carefully moving his binder, along with the remainder of his notes and placing them in his book bag, if they were going to do some moving around, he at least wanted to spare his neatly written notes of their antics. Of course, Hide nodded, he was probably curious about what questions Kaneki had or what dares his best friend could come up for him. Hide didn’t look all that nervous about doing anything weird or answering personal questions, his posture became fairly relaxed when Kaneki asked to go first, like he knew he was going to be in for an easy ride for at least the first five to ten minutes.

“Truth or Dare?”

“Truth,” Hide wanted to start out small, he had an explosion of questions and dares, but making the game intense right away meant making things awkward.

“What’s something you learned a bit too late?” He asked almost immediately afterwards, childlike curiosity already welling up in his chest.

The other man clicked his tongue, thinking on how he was going to answer that, “I’d say a lot. But something that affected me long term, was when we graduated, I had no freakin’ clue what I was doing when I got my first apartment, I didn’t really get budgeting and I almost got evicted on the first month! I bounced back though, two weeks of nonstop work, I’m pretty sure that was the first time you were genuinely scared of me.”

Kaneki laughed softly, “You were mad a lot, Hide. I don’t think you should blame me for not wanting you to pull several all nighters. You looked like a hobo.”

“Was I at least a good looking hobo?”

“No, you looked pretty bad, sorry.”

“Awh, really? I think I looked pretty alright for a tired unhygienic monster. Well, truth or dare?”

“Hm… I guess dare.”

Hide immediately smirked, “A wise choice, young man. Depict the entire Hunger Games book with interpretive dance. I’ll be a pal and play some music for you too.”

Kaneki was showing obvious reluctance to this particular dare, it was probably because he wasn’t that good of a dancer and out of all the things Hide had witnessed throughout their friendship, he had never seen him bust a move. Just the thought embarrassed him a little but a dare was a dare and Kaneki wasn’t going to chicken out just like that. Hide was taking his sweet time when it came to the music and the black haired male stood up, it seemed like his friend settled with a song and almost as soon as the music played, Kaneki began to dance. It was messy and he wasn’t balancing correctly half the time, needless to say it was as embarrassing as he thought it would be.

As Hide was poorly holding in his laughter, Kaneki proceeded to spoil the entire book, he wasn’t even sure if he could remember the order of events properly, he was concentrating relatively hard on what his movements should be after all. When he finished he was relieved and a little bit worn out, Touka was right, maybe he should pack on some muscle, not just for fighting, but for random interpretive dances as well.

Now that he thought about it, has Hide even read the Hunger Games? He didn’t think it mattered, after all, how could anyone possibly understand what was going on in the plot with such a silly dance like that? When he was done he plopped down on the floor beside the other male and huffed. At least Hide looked very entertained, which was good even though Kaneki wasn’t planning on doing anymore physical exertion than he had to, “Alright, alright… Truth or dare?”

The game continued like this for a good while, both Kaneki and Hide were surprisingly adamant on beating each other and winning. Progressively the game grew more and more competitive. Hide was a little bit surprised at Kaneki’s resolve. He had been sure that he would’ve won by now but Kaneki had proven him wrong. Next time he would make sure not to underestimate him, but first he had one last trick up his sleep, a trick that he thought would be perfect and exactly meant for winning. Though after the dancing stuff, it seemed like Kaneki was perfectly content with choosing truths more often than dares which was a slight roadblock since Hide didn’t know when he would be willing to go with a dare again.

In the meantime, he was perfectly content with basking in his own humiliation for a little since he was having a good time and wasn’t too ashamed of all of the dares that Kaneki had managed to dish out for him. If anything he was doing his best to encourage Kaneki to select more dares, Hide was running out of questions too, now he was pretty sure he knew a lot more about his best friend than he already did. He did appreciate the trivia though, he could never get enough of Kaneki and he hoped that Kaneki felt the same way even if he did hardly pick the truth option.

“Alrighty! This one should be a kicker! Truth or Dare?” His voice was mildly slurred from repeating the question and although it wasn’t that noticeable, Hide was still a bit irritated by it.

“Hm… I guess I’ll pick dare this time. I know you’re probably running out of questions.” Immediately Hide perked up. This was it. He was going to win this game. Already he could tell that Kaneki regretted his decision, that he was clearly more comfortable with answering questions.

“Jeez! You read me like a book sometimes Kaneki, I am running out of questions.” He laughed lightly and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Even so, Hide was sure he was going to repeat a question at one point in time, he had asked so many that he stopped keeping track of them, but he remembered all the answers that Kaneki gave. Anything about Kaneki was pretty important to him he thought, he really cared and that meant that he would remember the trivia, even if his brain was going to explode from thinking up so many questions.

“I dare you to wear a skirt with thigh highs!” Whipping out his trump card definitely left the reaction that Hide was hoping for, the other male left in complete and utter shock, already he was much more embarrassed than when he was doing the interpretive dance as well as some of the more humiliating questions Hide had to offer. Plus both of them had used up all of their chicken outs, it was really anyone’s game. Kaneki thought about this for a moment and considered the possibilities, he could chicken out and let his best friend beat him, or he could suck it up and dress in a skirt. After all it was just a skirt and some long socks, right? It was still something he wasn’t completely comfortable with and Hide knew.

“Hey, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to,” Hide added on with an understanding smile, but that only further compelled Kaneki to do the dare. It wasn’t like this was the most uncomfortable he had ever been, looking back at everything that had happened to him recently, he found this to be relatively tame, especially compared to all the ghoul stuff that was suddenly become part of his life.

“I-I’ll do it. You should really stop underestimating me!” Kaneki declared as confidently as he could. Hide was definitely impressed and nodded slowly before chuckling slyly.

“I’m not, buddy, I’m not, but I mean, I wouldn’t like wearing a skirt!” He held up his hands defensively while grinning.

“Well, I probably won’t like it, but also are we going to have to buy a skirt and thigh highs or something…?”

“Nope, I brought some-”

“HIDE-”

“Caallmm down, if it alleviates your concern, I didn’t steal them from some random chick, okay?”

Kaneki sighed loudly and shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with Hide’s explanation as to why and how he managed to get girls’ clothes.

“That’s… Definitely not going to alleviate my concern, but I guess at least we have the clothes and don’t have to go out shopping for some..”

“Well, shopping for some wouldn’t be that bad either! I would get to know what color looks best on you,” Hide teased coyly, crossing his arms briefly before leaning over and tugging his duffle bag towards him, unzipping it and sticking his hand inside, ruffling around before pulling out the skirt and socks. Kaneki was secretly praying that Hide didn’t actually have something like that in his duffle bag, but now that he’s seen it, he immediately wanted to cower and duck out of it.

“I have… so many questions…” muttered Kaneki softly, face palming and doing his best to hide his flustered blush. But he did want to know, badly. Did Hide get a girlfriend and accidentally take her clothes one day? No, that sounded really wrong now that he thought about it. Plus, he was sure that if Hide got a girlfriend he would be blabbering about her nonstop. Or maybe it was just a private relationship. Either way, he felt a boiling feeling grow in his chest; he was jealous. He wasn’t sure why, there wasn’t anything to be jealous of. Still, he was jealous and there wasn’t really much that he could do about that.

“No time for questions right now! You should put it on before you chicken out,” Hide encouraged while holding out the clothing items that Kaneki ended up snatching hastily. What the other male said was true, if he was going to do this, he was going to have to put it on and just get it over with as fast as possible without thinking about it too much. The skirt looked a bit too small for him and he didn’t really want to know how to keep the thigh highs up to his actual mid thighs.

“Just...No peeking okay?”

“I swear on my soul I will not peek on you, I’ll only peek if you want me to,” He added on with a wink and a flirty grin.

Classic Hide. But he still managed to make Kaneki blush more than he already was. Shyly, he stepped out of the bedroom and walked into the en-suite bathroom, shutting the door and locking it for extra measure. Hide waited patiently but he also hoped that Kaneki wasn’t stalling just to avoid the dare, that was basically the equivalent to chickening out and he’d be damned if Kaneki chickened out when he already made it this far.

Kaneki himself was considering chickening out last minute, as soon as he tugged down his pants to change he paused and cuddled with the fabric of the skirt, it was surprisingly soft, whenever he looked at slightly tight school skirts like this one he always thought that the fabric would be a bit more coarse. Once again he let out another sigh but not so that it was very audible. Ultimately, he slipped on the clothing item, immediately turning to look at himself in the mirror, it fit well, despite his concerns about him being too big.

He then kicked off his own socks and held up the thigh highs, this part was definitely going to be tricky, as soon as he stuck his foot in, he stumbled and almost fell over. The sock kept extending and Kaneki hopped on one foot in order to get it completely on. Outside the door he could hear Hide’s faint snickering. Kaneki wasn’t pleased with what he had to do next, if he hopped like last time he was certain that he would slip and actually fall over, his mildly sweaty feet wouldn’t save him this time if he went with the same mostly counter productive method.

Plopping down on the toilet seat, Kaneki took the other sock and slid it up his leg, putting on a sock in this manner seemed a little too scandalous for his tastes, like in one of the few sexual romance novels he had brought himself to read. They weren’t his style, but he guessed they were entertaining, he would always find himself getting flustered at the detailed imagery and now here he was basically recreating it, it was a major case of deja vu, the worst since he hasn’t actually done this before. When he was all dressed out and had basically done the dare at this point, he supposed the only thing left to do was walk out and show Hide what he looked like. That alone was a difficult task even if Hide was expecting to see him in a skirt.

He was a little bit too stressed to impress at the moment and Kaneki knew that he needed a minute to do a slow yet calming pattern of inhaling and then exhaling slowly. Even after calming down Kaneki was hesitant, was he worried about what he looked like? Yes. But his worry increased since Hide was Hide and his own mindset told him to impress the other. It was a subtle fondness that he always had for his friend, he wanted Hide to be impressed by a lot of things that he could do, maybe even have him be more impressed by him rather than the girl or whoever he took the skirt and thigh highs from. Just the thought of someone else made Kaneki’s stomach flip a bit, he really shouldn’t have this clingy attitude towards someone he cared about, in fact, he should be happy that Hide was probably in love.

“Um.. I’m not so sure about this… Hide are you sure I need to wear this?” He muttered after unlocking the door and leaving it ajar.

“Yeah. Well, you chose dare’ didn’t you?” Hide replied almost immediately afterwards. Which was true, Kaneki could have just said truth again, but it was obvious this scenario couldn’t be avoided, it was obvious Hide was planning this from the start, Kaneki didn’t know whether to be upset or amused at the young man’s secret and occasionally innocent trickery.

“Don’t worry, you’ll look great,” Hide cut into his thoughts like a knife, god, it was stupidly cute whenever he did that, Kaneki could hardly make himself get mad at his friend who could read him so easily and still wanted to help in whatever way possible.

“I-Well… I guess that’s true,” After one last moment of hesitation and sucking it up, Kaneki came out of hiding, twiddling his thumbs and messing with his shirt sleeves, just when he thought his face couldn’t get anymore red his cheeks almost exploded in a light scarlet tone, it almost made it look like he had a fever. There was a long drawn out moment of silence, but it wasn’t awkward, it was actually quite the opposite. It was a moment of observation, a moment that must have left Hide in complete awe.

After what seemed like forever, Hide rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while shyly sticking the other in the pocket of his hoodie, “Oh… I- Wow…”

He didn’t have a comment and he was pretty sure he was supposed to be talking about something right about now, but Hide could hardly muster up a word, nor a genuine comment on how he thought that Kaneki looked good. There was a bubbly feeling in his chest, technically it was always there when he was around Kaneki but now it was more prominent than ever. It almost frightened Hide, the way his heart nearly skyrocketed in one second, not that it didn’t already skyrocket whenever he got to see Kaneki. The feeling normally was this way, it was brief and fluttered around for a good second before fading away, but this time it stayed and this time Hide had to acknowledge it.

It was normal for him to not think about these things, he never really dating anyone before, he had bought the skirt and thigh highs just for the sake of having a laugh, in fact, he was the one who was planning on wearing them, he was curious, not so much perverted. Hide was perfectly content with being friends with anyone, but Kaneki always struck a chord, he wondered for a brief moment if the other man felt the same way.

 _Unlikely_ , was his conclusion and he immediately pushed these feelings away for the time being, he would probably think more when he went to bed and had some proper time to get his thoughts in order, “Well.. Y-You look good!”

Hide’s voice cracked a little, he was getting a bit flustered too, at the very least he was glad that feeling was mutual, Kaneki looked about ready to collapse in front of him, it looked like he was holding in his breath the entire time and now Hide was sure that was true, “You think so..?”

Now this was more up his alley, he might be a bumbling idiot right now but he could provide reassurance, “Totally! In fact, you don’t look good, you look amazing. Anyways, I’m willing to yield this time, you earned the win fair and square and plus I’m getting kind of tired. But I’ll be ready for round two anytime you’re up for it.”

Kaneki nodded and shyly lowered his hands, he was compelled to hold his skirt down, even if there wasn’t any wind at all he was still worried about it being flipped upwards. The fact that a sliver of his boxers were visible wasn’t helping his case. Hide was a bit more distracted now, found himself averting eye contact. While he was doing that Kaneki took a moment to observe him. He was blushing too. Did his appearance really affect him that much?

“Okay, but you’re sure you don’t want to eat dinner or anything before sleeping or..?” He trailed off. It was late but not too late, he could always order some takeout for Hide and then do his best to master the art of fake eating in one night.

“Nah, nah, it’s cool! I just gotta make sure that I make myself a big breakfast tomorrow morning right?” Hide lowered his hand that was still resting on the back of his neck. Kaneki nodded slowly before crossing his arms, but Hide was a guest in his apartment, it felt a little bit wrong to just have him make his own breakfast.

“Hide you’re a guest here, I should probably be the one who makes you breakfast, right?” Kaneki protested lightly in a soft voice. It wasn’t weird for Kaneki or Hide to come into each other’s homes and essentially do what they wanted, making their own meals if they had to, occasionally borrowing some laundry detergent, even taking something from the fridge and bringing it to their own home, in other words, they were relatively comfortable doing stuff at each other’s houses.

Of course Kaneki’s interjection made the situation a little more awkward for the both of them, Hide turned to look at the other male again and almost the entire time his bright golden hues were fixated on the skirt and thigh highs that complemented Kaneki so well. When he found himself getting distracted he nervously put his hand back up to his neck and began to rub at it a little. This was supposed to be funny but now it was so distracting that just the subtle hint conjured by what his best friend was wearing was making Hide’s heart almost explode into a thousand sparky bits like a firecracker. Luckily for Hide’s poor heart, Kaneki could sense the pattern and he closed his legs together tightly, it was at least a small improvement and it seemed like the other male was able to regain his composure once more, “W-Well, that’s kinda more of a ‘I’m cooking breakfast because I want to’ statement, don’t you think?”

He chuckled shyly and lowered his hand, he should probably stop rubbing his neck like it was somehow going to spare him of his recently discovered nearly unidentifiable feelings for his best friend, “But yeah, um, you can do what you want to, you are the wise old man of this humble abode after all!”

Without putting much thought into it, Kaneki clenched his fists and nodded confidently, moving out of his shy and closed off position into a more proud stance. “Then I’m making you breakfast, I owe you one anyways since you gave me notes and stuff for the classes I missed-”

Even when Kaneki was probably confronting  with the most humiliating thing he has done so far ever in his life, he still had the time to be a good friend, Kaneki really never changed at all, he just acted like everything was normal even when it wasn’t. Hide wasn’t sure if he should respect that or be concerned, he would ultimately go for the latter, Kaneki was too sweet to have to be hurt in anyway shape or form in his mind, but Hide was also aware that when his friend didn’t want to talk about things, he just didn’t want to talk about things and he had to respect that. Mostly at least, Hide was known for his snooping, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for him.

“-And I’m not old, you’re older than me!” He protested, placing his hand firmly on his hips in a sassy pose.

Working down any flustered feelings he may have, Hide raised his arms and flicked his wrists in a shooing motion, “Yes, yes! That’s a mighty fine modeling pose you’ve got going on there by the way~ You should do it more often!”

“Ack- HIDE-!” With all confidence lost once more Kaneki returned to standing normal, pouting as his friend laughed his ass off with the maturity of a twelve year old. That was okay with Kaneki, because he was going to be a little immature too. Taking a step forwards he lightly punched Hide’s shoulder and snorted softly in partial amusement, he did want Hide to shut up, just a little, mainly because he felt a bit like a pornstar.

“Since you’re acting all high and mighty why don’t you try on this skirt, then you’ll know how embarrassing this is for me,” He suggested, though Hide already knew that it wasn’t much of a suggestion and it was more of a demand.

Hide immediately felt like his integrity and pride as a man was threatened and his shook his head while laughing nervously before shrugging, “Me? Pfft- Naaahhh- Y’know how that would end up, my ass would be out for the world to see and y’know I’m not that fond of that idea!”

“All the more reason right?”

“Haaaaaahhhh…”

It was too late, at this point Kaneki wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and dragged Hide to the restroom before shutting the door on him, being quick to take off the skirt and high thighs before opening the door a smidge just to throw the clothing items at his friend, “You’d better do it.”

“H-Hey, you didn’t ask me truth or dare!”

“Stop stalling, we both know what your answer will be-”

Despite knowing that Kaneki wasn’t able to see him, Hide held up his hands in defense, almost as if he were surrendering to the police, “Fine, fine, I see how it is! I’ll.. I’ll wear it.”

By now Kaneki already had a pair of bright red basketball shorts on, they clashed with his sweater but he couldn’t care less, he was just glad to be out of the skirt and he was excited to see what Hide looked like. Behind the door he could hear the shifting of Hide and the rustling of clothing, as well as a few grunts. Kaneki already knew that Hide was struggling to get the socks on and knowing that was probably one of the best feelings he ever felt unironically.

“OH SHI-” Before the swear could be finished there was a loud crash, Kaneki held in his laughter, instead choosing to approach the door and peer in, the feeling of concern was still present even though Kaneki was about to explode. Of course, when he opened the already ajar door, Hide looked perfectly fine, just flustered and in an uncomfortable position, his hands were still gripping one of the socks in what was no longer and effort to tug it on. Of course, seeing Kaneki check in on him made him embarrassed but at the same time he was also coming close to laughing, putting on high thighs for him was harder than he thought it was so he had to give Kaneki credit for managing to put the high thighs on without falling over and looking like a complete mess.

“Oh my god- Pfft- Hide are you okay-?” He was trying and definitely not succeeding, the noises of amusement he was trying to supress kept slipping out to the point where he might as well let it all out.

“Yeah, yeah- I’m fine, but hey-! At least I’m wearing the damn thing,” Hide wriggled on the remaining thigh high while on the ground before putting his leg down, the skirt was too small on him, but luckily it wasn’t as small as he originally thought, still, he was pretty sure he could see parts of his boxers showing, or maybe that was just because he was laying down. He sat up after that and rubbed his head, even if the fall hurt a little, at least Kaneki looked like he was about to get a good laugh. Hide stood up, careful not to slip on the floor and fall down again, he wasn’t too keen on trusting the cold laminated floor of Kaneki’s bathroom anymore, especially while he was wearing socks.

Once he was out of the bathroom, Hide was quick to sit down on Kaneki’s bed, he wasn’t going to show off anything more than he had to, he let out a small huff, the skirt was fixated on riding up his legs it seemed, at this point Kaneki might as well blackmail him, “Well, that was fun, but I think it’s about time I take this stuff off.”

“Nuh-uh, keep it on for a minute or two, it’s not fair that I don’t get to properly see you,” Kaneki negated with an amused grin, it was nice to finally have some fun, he was so preoccupied with getting stronger and other things that he had nearly forgotten that he didn’t always have to take things so seriously, his mind had more serious issues that plagued it but Hide made him feel better, like usual. Kaneki immediately began to regret his time spent skipping university for so long. Hide wasn’t in favor of keeping on the skirt for longer than needed, but he compromised with himself, thirty seconds was fine, he was pretty sure that Kaneki wasn’t timing him.

Hide waited, not as patiently as he’d like, time always moved slower when he was eager to do something, he crossed his legs, doing his best to at least look the part of someone who was being mature, still he couldn’t help but squirm every now and then, as if moving would somehow make time go faster than it was. Finally he caved and let out a long and drawn out groan, not that making noise was going to do the trick either, “I’m taking this off, I’m not used to having my balls practically being exposed like this.”

Naturally, Kaneki was sorely disappointed that his friend gave in so easily, but he was also pleased because in a way it meant that he had won the game of Truth or Dare, “Well, guess I won?”

“Fine, fine, yeah you totally won. You’re tougher than steel sometimes Kaneki, I’ll give ya that, but next time I’ll beat you so this isn’t over!” Hide declared in a loud and booming voice, intentionally making himself sound like some sort of all powerful god.

“Sometimes? I think this proves that I’m tougher than steel all the time.”

“Ah, well I mean, you’ve already proved it apart from the skirt stuff, you survived a bunch of steel beams falling on top of you, you’re a real tough dude Kaneki, but that doesn’t mean I won’t catch up,” He added on with a wink and a smile and Kaneki felt his heart beat a little faster, a small blush tinting his pale cheeks.

“Thanks, but I wasn’t really all that strong at all, I missed so much because I was stuck in the hospital and stayed at home so much, plus you’ve seen me, I got sick after eating Big Girl, I don’t really think a strong person for all of that,” Kaneki fumbled over his words, doing his best to remain humble about the situation, he was proud that he made it through a ghoul attack, but he felt like he became cripplingly weak because of it, if he wasn’t weak already that is.

“But you survived didn’t you? That’s a huge thing, I mean, if you didn’t I would have lost my best friend,” Hide countered in a softer voice, his grin lessening to a gentle and comforting smile. Kaneki couldn’t think of a proper reply, his heart bubbled a little, the reassurance was working in a way but he still had his own doubts that would still stick with him regardless of any advice or compliments.

Swiftly, Hide stood up and firmly placed his hands on Kaneki’s shoulders, gripping them tightly, “You’re definitely strong to me at least and by the way if you’re still sick you should just tell me now, your face is all red!”

“Oh- n-no it’s not like that I swear, I guess I’m just flustered, that’s all,” He stated in a quiet voice while raising his hands up a little as if he was surrendering to Hide’s love and support.

Instead of his classic grin, Hide let out a small puff of relief, his hands still remained on Kaneki’s shoulders, almost as if he was afraid of letting go, “Good, but I’ve still got my eye on you. You really make me worry sometimes y’know?”

Kaneki nearly found himself to be speechless once more, it was no secret that he was having a hard time coming up with what to say, he wanted to tell Hide everything, the truth to be more specific, that he was a half ghoul now, that he was struggling with his kagune and his hunger and his reluctance to eat any humans. He had to hide from Hide in a way and he didn’t like that, but if it meant keeping him safe then he wouldn’t just stop because he couldn’t handle his feelings, “You don’t need to worry about me, I’m fine now. I mean, I worried about my stitches coming undone at some point, but I’m fine, just recovering and stuff I guess.”

“Man, when you say it like that you make me feel like a mom and I definitely don’t want to be your new mom,” He lowered his hands, taking them off of Kaneki’s shoulders completely and crouched down, fumbling around in his duffle bag before taking out a pair of sweatpants to change into.

“Well I don’t see you as my mom, if that makes you feel better-”

“I still feel like your mother, but I’ll take your word for it. I would rather not be your mom though,” Hide winked and chuckled lightly. As much as he would like to believe that he didn’t seem like a mother to Kaneki, it was hard not to, needless to say it made him feel awkward because he didn’t see Kaneki as his son or anything like that.

“I’m gonna change so no peeking!” Hide chanted in a playful timbre, hurrying back into the bathroom and slamming the door shut before Kaneki could even let out a word of acknowledgement.

Cracking open the door a little, Hide poked his head out, adding onto his statement and nearly startling his friend at the sudden action, “Seriously though, if you want to talk or anything I’m right here, physically and in your contacts sooooo…”

Kaneki shook his head and smiled softly, nodding at him in acknowledgment so that Hide could go back to changing. Lucky for him, his friend took the hint and retreated back into the bathroom to change into his superior and more comfortable sweatpants. This time he didn’t hear any slipping noises or a loud thud, it seemed like this time Hide was able to properly change clothes without having any issues. It was a fast change and soon he exited the bathroom and tossed the skirt and high thighs on the floor, stretching and grunting in wordless satisfaction at his back being pulled.

“Well, I already know who looked better in a skirt,” Hide declared loudly.

“Really? Who?” Kaneki, of course, didn’t think that it was really much of a competition.

“Oh you know who, it’s the person standing right in front of me,” He replies confidently despite how bold and flirtatious the statement was.

“Ah-“ If Kaneki was drinking water he was sure that he would have choked and spat out whatever he was drinking, instead he let out a light gasp and cleared his throat aggressively, as if that would compensate for the sudden burst of emotions he was beginning to feel fire up in his chest.

Hide chuckled softly and gently grabbed his wrist, teasing him a little bit more, “Don’t be shocked, you know that I’m just telling the truth!”

“H-honestly I thought you were gonna say that it was you, I guess I should have I known about your low self esteem,” He mustered up a slight retort to Hide’s statement, twisting his hand around slightly so that he would be holding the other’s wrist as well.

“Geez you just can’t take a compliment can you?” Hide giggled quietly while glancing off to the side.

“Well, it seems like you can’t take a compliment either,” Kaneki retorted once more with a small grin, giving Hide an affectionate squeeze before slowly trailing his hand down Hide’s wrist so that he would more or less be holding his hand instead. Neither of them seemed care at all that they were holding hands and despite Kaneki and Hide both looking down and taking notice of what they were doing they continued to hold hands anyways. It was a natural and comforting feeling, so much so that Kaneki hadn’t realized that he was moving his face closer, openly welcoming this feeling of peace and tranquility.

Hide seemed to have gained a similar attraction to the feeling, both of them approached the emotions willingly, and perhaps they just didn’t realize that they had close their eyes and connected their lips.

Finally, it seemed like they both snapped out of their trance and both of them promptly pulled away with the same flustered reaction. Their hands still stayed interlocked with each other, almost as if they would die if they let go.

“Woah…” Hide bashfully rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand with a lopsided, small smile.

Immediately, Kaneki lurched back a little, letting go of Hide’s hand much to the other’s disappointment, “O-Oh! I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to- I’m sorry-”

“Hey- It’s fine Kaneki- It’s really not that big of a deal. Well, I mean it kinda is a big deal- but n-not in that way y’know?”

“You know what let’s just go to bed-!”

“R-Right now?”

“Y-Yeah, right now!”

Before Hide could muster another word, Kaneki hastily walked over the the light switch and flicked it off, nearly dousing the room in complete darkness, the only source of light coming from the window that was partially obscured by the curtains. Usually Kaneki was slow and kind of a clutz, but when it came to hiding it seemed that he was quick and efficient, in no time at all he was already laying down, buried snugly underneath his bed covers.

“Um-”

“A-Are you going to sleep next to me or..?”

“Awh, is that a request?” Hide found himself teasing Kaneki lightheartedly, he didn’t think much of it, just a silent hope that this didn’t affect their interactions and friendship.

Kaneki huffed and looked up at him, not completely appreciative of the joke, his cheeks dusted a light pink that was visible even in the night, “Yeah… We can talk about this in the morning…? Maybe plan a date if you want…”

Hide crawled onto the bed, hesitantly at first before settling down next to his friend that already was starting to be so much more than someone who was just meant to be platonic, “Ah… Look at you making the first move!”

He paused and found himself to also be hiding his fact underneath the blankets, “...I’d like that.. A lot actually.”

There was a peaceful silence, it wasn’t tense, it wasn’t awkward, it was intimate and both men took a moment to appreciate that.

“Hide?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks..”

There wasn’t much left to say after that. Kaneki had reached a conclusion, and it was this was the best sleepover he and Hide have had yet.


End file.
